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Whistleblower sacked, Fair Work told

Julia Medew

AN ANAESTHETIST has accused Geelong Hospital of trying to sack him because he blew the whistle on a senior colleague accepting business-class flights to New York from a drug company.

An unfair dismissal hearing at Fair Work Australia on Monday heard that Dr Mark Colson believed his use of the Whistleblowers Protection Act to report a colleague's interaction with a multinational drug company in 2007 had partly caused the hospital to pursue problems in his billing.

There are 42 specialists in this department. Anyone who believes that you rolled your 42-sided dice and my number just happened to come up probably also believes that Al Capone's only crime was tax-evasion

In March last year, the hospital accused him of false claims for his after-hours work, which resulted in a small discrepancy in payments made as part of his $517,000 salary.

The tribunal heard that when Dr Colson received a letter from Deputy Director of Anaesthesia Dr Colin Gordon on March 23 last year, accusing him of ''knowingly and willingly'' submitting ''false claims'', which the hospital was investigating, Dr Colson wrote a letter in response and sent it to many of his colleagues.

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In the reply, Dr Colson thanked Dr Gordon for his ''morale-boosting'' letter and accused him of unwittingly being deployed to tidy up ''unfinished business'' on behalf of Dr Simon Tomlinson, the colleague he reported under the Whistleblowers Protection Act. He alleged he had been singled out for audits of his billing practices because of this.

''There are 42 specialists in this department. Anyone who believes that you rolled your 42-sided dice and my number just happened to come up probably also believes that Al Capone's only crime was tax-evasion,'' Dr Colson wrote.

He said that since reporting Dr Tomlinson in 2007 he had faced multiple allegations of unauthorised absenteeism and felt Dr Tomlinson had tried to thwart his application for a sabbatical and prevent him from getting a particular job.

Barrister Mark Rinaldi, for Barwon Health, said Dr Colson was dismissed in May for refusing to modify his billing and for his inappropriate behaviour after Dr Gordon raised concerns with him about his billing.

He said Dr Colson was a combative conspiracy theorist whose letter included unrelated information designed to threaten and embarrass people and smear Barwon Health's reputation. Mr Rinaldi said Dr Colson had also surreptitiously recorded a meeting he had with management about his billing.

Dr Colson said he had distributed his defensive letter to colleagues so they would understand why he might behave erratically at work during that period.

''I was worried that I could make a mistake and that a patient might die … It is very easy to kill someone in anaesthesia,'' he said.

Dr Colson said he had been unable to get work in Victoria since his dismissal and desperately wanted to return to work at Barwon Health. He said he regretted writing the letter and sending it to his colleagues.

The tribunal heard there were no concerns about Dr Colson's clinical performance.